72 



NATURE 



\Nov. 15, 1888 



faces, by M. J. B. Bailie. Fizeau's extremely delicate method 

 of measuring minute distances is sisceptible of a large number 

 of applications, and is here employed accurately to determine all 

 the deformations of a liquid surface, however slight be the actions 

 causing them. By this process the author has been enabled to 

 observe the surface deformation of magnetic and diamagnetic 

 fluids under the action of a weak magnet. He also shows that, 

 as a copper wire traversed by a strong current attracts iron, it 

 also attracts the surface of the perchloride of iron in solution. — 

 On the occlusion of gases in the electrolysis of the sulphate of 

 copper, by M. A. Soret. The author's researches lead to the 

 conclusion that the electrolyzed copper always contains a certain 

 quantity of gas, almost exclusively hydrogen. It retains a little 

 carbonic acid and sometimes a very slight quantity of cirbon 

 oxide. A certain relation exists between the quantities of gas 

 occluded and the conditions of temperature and acidity ; con- 

 sequently the quantity of gas present in the metal is variable, 

 and the proportion 4-4 volumes, given by Lenz {Journ. prakt. 

 Chem., cviii. p. 436), is applicable only to the particular case 

 studied by that physicist. — On tin, by M. Leo Vignon. If a 

 zinc plate be plunged into an aqueous solution of one of the tin 

 chlorides, the latter metal is precipitated by the zinc according 

 to certain known thermo-chemical relations. The tin so pre- 

 cipitated possesses some special properties, which are here studied 

 for the first time. An inquiry is also made into the cause of this 

 modification of the fundamental properties of tin. The result 

 of this inquiry is that the modified tin, which is infusible, is a 

 mixture of metallic tin and of the anhydrous protoxide of tin. — 

 On the homopterocarpine and pterocarpine of red sandalwood, 

 by MM. P. Cazeneuve and L. Hugounenq. These two extracts 

 of red sandalwood, described in the Comptes rendus, civ. p. 1722, 

 are here methodically studied under the action of the chief 

 reagents. Their respective formulas are now shown to be 

 C24H24OB and CjoHjfiOg, and there can be no longer any doubt 

 that pterocarpine is a lower homologue of homopterocarpine. — 

 On a substance at once acid and basic contained in cod-liver 

 oils, by MM. Arm. Gautier and L. Mourgues. This substance, 

 to which the authors give the name of morrhuic acid presents 

 considerable interest owing to its double function of an acid and 

 an alkali, as well as for its relative abundance and its origin, 

 which is probably connected with the vegetable lecithines. It 

 is present in these oils under the form of an unstable and com- 

 plex combination, behaving like the ordinary lecithines — that is, 

 it is modified, especially when heated in the presence of acids 

 and alkalies, liberating glycerine, phosphoric acid, and a com- 

 plex acid. It corresponds to the formula C9H13NO3. — M. V. 

 Marcano describes a fermented drink {yaraque) extracted by the 

 wild tribes of the Upper Orinoco from Cassava ; M. Martinaud 

 studies the analysis of the yeast of beer ; and M. Emile Riviere 

 reports on the human and animal remains found in the Caves 

 of Baumias de Bails and Saint-Martin in the Alpes Maritime^. 



Berlin. 

 Physiological Society, October 26. — Prof, du Bois- 

 Reymond, President, in the chair. — Prof. Wolff spoke on 

 the growth of the lower jaw. Notwithstanding the opposition 

 of some observers, Flourens's view of the growth of bone by 

 apposition and absorption is still widely applied to the lower 

 jaw, and Humphry's experiments on the growth of the 

 ascending branch of the same have been advanced in support 

 of this theory. The speaker had therefore made a large number 

 of experiments on goats and rabbits, by firmly attaching two 

 wire rings to the bone while the animals were still young ; one 

 ring was placid at the pars incisiva, the other at the angle of the 

 lower jaw. His conclusions are based upon the results of forty- 

 two experiments ; of these twenty-three showed an increase of 

 7 to 9 mm. in the distance between the wire rings in three to 

 six months, while in twelve other cases a distinct but smaller 

 increase in the distance between them was observed, so 

 that only seven cases yielded no positive result. Bearing in 

 mind the value which must always be attached to a few positive 

 results even when opposed by many negative, it appears that the 

 above-nientioned large preponderance of cases in which an 

 increase in the distance between the marks was observed fully 

 justifies the conclusion that the lower jaw grows by expansion. 

 This proof of the interstitial growth of bone, together with the 

 proved adaptability of all bones to the statical conditions of the 

 demands made upon them, will. Prof. Wolff hopes, put an end to 

 the idea that bone-tissue is inactive, and replace it by the theory 

 he has so long held that bone is capable of active vital growth 

 even in old persons.— Dr. Hans Virchow gave an account of the 



results of his experiments on the development of blood and the 

 blood-vessels in the chick. In especial he pointed out that the 

 blood is developed very early in the mesoblast, and takes up a 

 peculiar position in the same. He next spoke on the yolk-sac 

 of the chick. After he had explained the chief points and 

 results of his researches, he was obliged to defer the rest of his 

 communication to the next meeting, owing to the lateness of the 

 hour. 



Amsterdam. 

 Royal Academy of Sciences, October 27. — M. Behrens 

 discussed the origin of the volcanic lakes in the Eifel Mountains, 

 and demonstrated that they could not have originated in the 

 crumbling down of extinct volcanoes. He endeavoured to show 

 that the Eifel Lakes must be regarded as incomplete volcanoes, 

 and that they were formed by the softening and continuous 

 blasting of the sedimentary rocks, only a little lava having been 

 brought to the surface. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



The Butterflies of the Eastern United States and Canada, with special 

 reference to New England, Part i : S. H. Scudder (Cambridge, Mass.). — 

 Index Catalogue of the Library of the Surgeon-General's Office, United 

 States Army, vol. ix. (Washington). — The Invisible Powers of Nature : E. 

 M. Caillard (Murray). — Thermodynamique : J. Bertrand (Paris, Gauthier- 

 Villars). — Untersuchungen iiber Dammerungserscheinungen : J. Kiessling 

 (Hamburg, Voss). — University College, Nottingham, Calendar 1888-89 

 (Nottingham, Sands). — An Introduction to Entomology, Part i : J- H. 

 Comstock (Ithaca). —Annual Report of the Secretary for Mines and Water 

 Supply, Victoria (Melbourne, Brain).— Foreign Aviary Birds, &c. : Dr. K. 

 Russ (bean). — Macaws, Cockatoos, Parrakeets, and Parrots : Sir T. D. 

 Lauder and Captain T. Brown (Dean) — Euclid's Elements of Geometry, 

 BooksI.-IV. : A. E. Layng(Blackie).-Questionsand Examples on Elementary 

 Experimental Physics : B. Lcewj; (Macmillan).— Practical Metallurgy and 

 Assaying : A. H. Hiorns (Macmillan). — Gleanings in Science : G. Molloy 

 (Macmillan).— Sitzungsbericht der K. Akademie der Wissenschaften, Mathe- 

 matisch-Naturwissenschafthche Classe (Mathematik, Physik, Chemie, 

 Mechanik, Meteorologie, und Astronomie.Heft 3-10), (Mineralogie, Botanik, 

 Zoologie, Geologie, und Palaontologie, Heft i-io), (Physiologic, Anatomie, 

 und Theoretischen Medicin, Heft i-io) (Wien).— The Meteorite of November 

 20, 1887 : H. G. Fordham (Hertford, Austin). — Mineralogical Magazine^ 

 October (Simpkin). — Notes from the Leyden Museum, October (Leyden, 

 Brill).— Journal of Physiolo.ey, vol. ix. No. 4 (Cambridge). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Fossils of the British Islands 49 



Yorkshire Legends and Traditions. By Joseph 



Lucas 5c> 



Foreign Biological Memoirs 51 



Our Book Shelf :— 



Wolstenholme : "Examples in the Use of Logarithms " ; 

 and Palmer: "Practical Logarithms and Trigono- 

 metry " 52 



Lock: "Elementary Statics" 53 



Lydekker : " Catalogue of the Fossil Reptilia and 



Amphibia in the British Museum (Natural History) " 53 

 Favenc: " The History of Australian Exploration " . 53 

 Letters to the Editor: — 



The Protest in The Nineteenth Century.— F. Victor 



Dickins 53 



Gresham College.— Prof, W. N. Hartley, F.R.S. . 54 



Divergent Evolution.— John T. Gulick 54 



Alpine Haze.— Dr. H. J. Johnston-Lavis .... 'i 55 

 The Astronomical Observatory of Pekin. — Dr. J, E. L. 



Dreyer • .... 55 



An Historical and Descriptive List of some Double 

 Stars suspected to vary in Light. By A. M. 



Gierke 55 



Notes 58 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



The Total Solar Eclipse of August 29, 1886 61 



Comet i888/(Barnard) 61 



Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1888 



November 18-24 ^' 



Geographical Notes 62 



Molecular Physics : an Attempt at a Comprehensive 

 Dynamical Treatment of Physical and Chemical 



Forces. IV. By Prof. F. Lindemann 63 



Learned Societies in Russia 67 



Research Laboratory of the Royal College of Phy- 

 sicians, Edinburgh. {Illustrated.) 68 



Cyclones and Currents 69 



University and Educational Intelligence 7^ 



Scientific Serials 7° 



Societies and Academies 7' 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 7* 



